Dean Stratouly on the top floor of 100 Arlington St. where his company is turning a… more

Dean Stratouly, founder of The Congress Group, is in the midst of transforming the former Renaissance Charter School in Boston’s Park Square into housing. The $100 million project will turn dozens of classrooms into 128 luxury apartments. Construction is expected to be completed next February. Stratouly talked with real estate editor Thomas Grillo on the top floor of 100 Arlington St. while touring what will be penthouse units with views of the Blue Hills.

BBJ: You’ve partnered with The Related Cos. to turn a former charter school into apartments. How much will be rents be?

Dean Stratouly on the top floor of 100 Arlington St. where his company is turning a… more

DS: They will be comparable to rents at The Clarendon, $6 per square foot.

BBJ: That’s even more expensive than rents being talked about in the Seaport District at $4 per square foot.

DS: This is condo-style living with an amenity package that will be second to none, including a basketball court, a weight room, and a doggy day care center. We think it will be the best apartment building in the city. Related has demonstrated what luxury rentals are all about. They’ve brought that New York style of living, with all the good stuff that goes with it, to Boston.

BBJ: Are you worried that the Kensington will open at the edge of Chinatown this summer with 381 luxury units, followed by Avalon Exeter, a 187-unit tower in the Back Bay, and another luxury building Avalon is planning to start soon on Stuart Street?

DS: We love our location in the heart of the Back Bay. We love our product, with great ceilings and great windows. There’s character to this building. It’s not a prototypical steel and stick building. It’s built extremely well. Related has great experience at this product, both at marketing and management. They’ve proven if you have a good product in a good location with good management, people want to live there and are prepared to pay for it.

DS: I’m more positive than I’ve been in the last five years because we’re seeing real growth. Corporations are finally startling to spend money and starting to grow their businesses. There’s been such apprehension about the world economies and our own politics. But CEOs are finally saying we can only control what we can control and they’re starting to make plans to expand. When companies grow, they need to hire people and those people need a place to live.

BBJ: Is there any worry that when the more than 7,000 units in the pipeline in the Seaport, Downtown Crossing, Back Bay, Chinatown and the Theatre District come online, potential tenants will push back on rents and developers will have to start giving concessions?

DS: Look, Boston has always been a city where the average rents are significantly higher than the average salary and it’s always been a market that is characteristically driven by young professionals. Annually, we produce 65,000 graduates from the region’s schools. They are all making in the $50,000 to $60,000 range, but lots of them will team up to rent an apartment. The rents are always high in premiere locations. But the tradition of limiting of your living expenses to 30 percent doesn’t work here, in New York, Chicago or any other big city. Not everyone can live downtown and not everyone can live in Wellesley, that’s why there are other products in other towns.

BBJ: Is there anything that can derail the upward trend on construction in the Hub?

DS: There are thousands of bad things on the horizon starting with the crazy guy in Korea. We could all be gone and have a major vacancy called planet earth.